Telecommunications devices have advanced in a wide variety of ways. As telecommunications networks have improved and expanded functionality, telecommunications devices have followed. For example, wireless devices were developed to enable users to communicate text messages using short message service (SMS), instance messages (IM), and e-mails. Other technological functionality has also been developed for wireless communications devices.
Emergency situations can arise in a variety of ways at unpredictable times. Emergencies may come in the form of weather, crime, illness, natural disasters, man-made disasters, car accidents, and so forth. In an emergency situation, public safety answering points (PSAPs) have been established throughout the United States to answer emergency calls placed to “911.” Emergency operators at the PSAPs have been trained to answer emergency calls and provide emergency response by the most suitable emergency response team (e.g., firemen, police, ambulance, etc.) that the emergency situation warrants. Emergency calls, however, are not always possible depending upon the situation. Poor wireless network coverage, need to remain silent so as to avoid being discovered, being in a noisy environment, and having a low battery are a limited set of illustrative reasons as to why emergency voice calls are not always possible.